People often ask me if I can recommend any books about mental health, and as the last twenty years or so has seen a positive outpouring of new books on the “personal development” and “psychology” shelves of the bookshop, it can be hard to know where to start. I would often recommend watching a couple of videos or listening to podcasts about a particular book to see if what the author is saying resonates with you and offers you what you are looking for.
This is the first in a series of blogs that describe some of the most popular books – ones that I have read and enjoyed. I’ve cast my net wide and my choice takes in the old and the new, the short and the long, with a wide range of ways of looking at emotional health. It was hard to decide what to leave in and what to take out, I could have chosen from around 30 that I really like.
Human Givens
My counselling training was with the Human Givens Institute https://www.hgi.org.uk/ and so I’m going to start there: (Their excellent new website is a mine of information, has free podcasts and articles, information about their training programmes and a list of Human Givens trained therapists.)
Their self help series of five books I would rate second to none – these cover anxiety, anger management, depression, addiction and pain. https://www.humangivens.com/product-category/publications/all-products/books/self-help-series/
I’m focusing on How to Master Anxiety by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell, who were the two co-founders of Human Givens.
Two excellent Podcasts
An excellent podcast to check out is Joe Griffin and Jo Baker “What is Good Mental Health”? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMioonMbxFs and the Proper Mental JHealth Podcast with Joe Griffin talking to Tom Davies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyn5PL3RRKM
Anxiety: An Emotional Signal Gone Awry
Griffin and Tyrrell emphasise that anxiety is a signal that something in the system is not working. It’s not a disease to be feared, but a message to be understood. By addressing unmet needs and improving coping strategies, people can often reduce or even eliminate chronic anxiety without the need for long-term medication.
Drawing from neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and decades of clinical experience, Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell offer a model for understanding anxiety that’s both practical and empowering. They say that anxiety is not inherently bad – it evolved as a life-saving emotion. Our ancestors relied on anxiety to anticipate threats, whether from predators or from neighbouring tribes. However, in the modern world, our brains are often triggered by imagined threats rather than real ones and the problem arises when this protective emotion becomes chronic or misdirected, when we become intensely anxious without a real threat present. The body and brain respond to imagined dangers as if they were real, flooding the system with stress hormones, increasing heart rate, and altering perception. Over time, this creates a feedback loop that can be hard to escape.
The REM Sleep Connection
One of Joe Griffin’s most important contributions is his theory about the relationship between anxiety and dreaming, particularly REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. He argues that when we worry excessively during the day, our brains work overtime at night to process and “act out” those worries in the form of dreams. REM sleep is the stage where most dreaming occurs, and according to Griffin, it serves a biological function: to metaphorically discharge unresolved emotional arousal.
However, when the emotional arousal is too great—caused by chronic anxiety—the brain gets overloaded. It spends too much time in REM sleep, leading to reduced deep (restorative) sleep. As a result, people wake up feeling tired, unmotivated, and even more anxious. This leads to a vicious cycle of anxiety, poor sleep, and mental fatigue.
The Human Givens Approach
Central to their model is the Human Givens framework—a holistic psychological approach that sees mental health as a function of how well people’s innate emotional needs are being met. These “givens” include:
- Security
- Attention (to give and receive)
- Autonomy and control
- Emotional connection to others
- Status
- Privacy
- A sense of meaning and purpose
When these needs are met in balance, mental well being is usually good. When they are not—especially if key needs like security or emotional connection are chronically unmet—anxiety often arises.
Imagery and the Power of the Imagination
Another unique feature of Griffin’s work is his emphasis on the imagination. He argues that human beings are the only species with the cognitive ability to imagine future scenarios in rich detail—and this can be both a gift and a curse. The same imagination that helps us plan and innovate also allows us to catastrophise and ruminate.
They explain that many anxious people have overactive imaginations. They vividly picture worst-case scenarios, which tricks the brain into reacting as if those scenarios are already happening. This is why guided imagery and visualisation techniques can be so effective in anxiety treatment—they help “retrain” the imagination to serve rather than sabotage well being.
Breaking the Cycle
The good news that the authors repeat over and over, is that anxiety is highly treatable, and they describe several practical strategies for breaking the anxiety cycle, including the following:
- Problem-solving unmet needs (see above list) – Identify what emotional needs are not being met and take steps to address them.
- Guided imagery and relaxation – Use relaxation techniques that engage the imagination in calming and healing ways.
- Reframing and cognitive distancing – Learn to challenge negative thinking and gain perspective on imagined threats.
- Improving sleep hygiene – Reduce rumination to restore healthier sleep patterns.
- Limiting arousal triggers – Reduce caffeine, sugar, news consumption, and other anxiety-inducing inputs.
Final Thoughts
Rather than seeing anxiety as a disorder to be suppressed, Griffin and Tyrrell invite readers to understand it as a signal—one that can lead us toward a more balanced, fulfilled, and emotionally healthy.
Book a counselling session today!
See also: About Human Givens Therapy, How Can I Stay Emotionally Healthy?, Resilience and Getting Our Emotional Needs Met
